Electrical lighting has become commonplace in modern society. Electrical lighting devices are commonly deployed, for example, in homes, buildings of commercial and other enterprise establishments, as well as in various outdoor settings. Even in a relatively small state or country, there may be millions of lighting devices in use.
Traditional lighting devices have tended to be relatively dumb, in that they can be turned ON and OFF, and in some cases may be dimmed, usually in response to user activation of a relatively simple input device. Lighting devices have also been controlled in response to ambient light detectors that turn on a light only when ambient light is at or below a threshold (e.g. as the sun goes down) and in response to occupancy sensors (e.g. to turn on light when a room is occupied and to turn the light off when the room is no longer occupied for some period). Often traditional lighting devices are controlled individually or as relatively small groups at separate locations.
With the advent of modern electronics has come advancement, including advances in the types of light sources as well as advancements in networking and control capabilities of the lighting devices. For example, solid state sources are now becoming a commercially viable alternative to traditional light sources such as incandescent and fluorescent lamps. By nature, solid state light sources such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) are easily controlled by electronic logic circuits or processors. Electronic controls have also been developed for other types of light sources. As increased processing capacity finds its way into the lighting devices, it becomes relatively easy to incorporate associated communications capabilities, e.g. to allow lighting devices to communicate with system control elements and/or with each other. In this way, advanced electronics in the lighting devices as well as the associated control elements have facilitated more sophisticated lighting control algorithms as well as increased networking of lighting devices.
There are a variety of situations in which it is desirable to allow a user an appropriate form of interface for various functions related to lighting. For installation, and service or maintenance for example, a technician may need data about specific devices, their installation and configuration in preparation for and/or while doing work relative to the lighting device. Traditionally, such technical information took paper form, such as specification sheets packaged with the lighting devices and construction plans as to where each device should be installed. More recently, technicians have accessed the appropriate information via portable computer terminal devices or via mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. Where the lighting device or system supports data network communications, such user devices may also communicate with lighting devices or other elements of a system to obtain data as to device or system health, diagnose issues and take corrective steps (e.g. change configuration settings and/or change or re-install firmware).
In a somewhat related field a variety of entities are proposing controls for lighting and other functions in a building from a variety of portable user devices, for example, from remote controls or from mobile devices such as smartphones or tablet computers.
Despite such recent efforts, there is still room for further improvement in the user interface with a lighting system and/or in the functions that a lighting system may offer through its user interface.